Unanticipated Delays
by Caitiy
Summary: Sometimes a few delays can be a good thing. [KakaSaku Month 2018 - Week 1 Day 5]


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I'd no intention of officially participating in KakaSaku month as I already had five other one-shots in the queue to carry me through June (and into July if I posted one a week) as well as the final chapter of Simple Things to be working on. ^^;; I kinda thought that was participation enough - from my standpoint anyway (as someone who isn't exactly a part of the community anymore.) Especially since I've already done fics that fit the prompts that interested me. I guess it happens when you write a lot. ::facepalm:: Turns out all it takes is a well-timed comment from a beta and off I go again. .;;; Many thanks to La Moonlight Lily for giving me the poke to write something specifically for one of the prompts! And, as always loads of thanks to both of my betas La Moonlight Lily and WitchesRayne! You lovely ladies are the reason I can continue posting! :-D

* * *

 **Unanticipated Delays**

"Ugh, Kakashi! Can't you move any faster?"

"No."

"No?"

"No, it's not wise to move faster than we're going right now."

" _What?!_ Why's that?"

"We just ate."

"So?"

"We need to wait thirty minutes before doing any strenuous activities after eating."

"Kakashi!"

"What?"

"That's swimming!"

He raised a hand to the back of his head, awkwardly. "Eh, heh, so it is."

She narrowed her eyes. "Kakashi, if I didn't know any better I'd swear that you were _trying_ to make us late."

"Now now, Sakura. Why would you think that?"

"Aside from the fact that we finished our objective three days ago and should have returned to the village yesterday morning?"

"Ah, Sakura, how can you say such mean things about your teammate when he has been nothing short of supportive during this mission?"

She eyed him with clear suspicion, not willing to budge on her opinion.

"It's not my fault that we missed that ferry," he tried, not a bad opening gambit as it was in fact true.

She nodded, conceding that he did indeed have a point. "Okay, so the _ferry_ wasn't your fault. But, what about the _drawbridge_?"

"Surely you can't hold me responsible for that one?"

"Kakashi, we're ninja - we could have sprinted over it before they pulled it up! We'd have been on our way before they even thought to react to us jumping the barrier!"

"True, true… but, usually the traffic on that river is pretty minimal - how was _I_ supposed to know that there was an incredibly long convoy of ships going to some sort of event up river?"

" _Fine_. The funeral procession then."

"I don't see how that can be my fault."

"We could have tried to go around."

"It was for the _mayor_ \- the whole town was full of blocked off streets and parts of the funeral procession. It would have been unforgivably rude of us to try and barge through it. Never mind the amount of bad karma we'd have gotten for even giving something like that a try."

"Bad karma?" She raised a skeptical pink eyebrow.

"We're shinobi - we earn enough bad karma as it is. I'd rather not accrue any more unnecessarily."

She sighed. "How about the wedding?"

"What was wrong with the wedding?"

"We weren't invited! We didn't even know anyone there! Why did we have to stop?"

He shot her an amused glance. "You can't seriously tell me that that wasn't the best looking cake you'd ever seen?"

Memories of the cake in question resurfaced in her mind and she couldn't quite stop her mouth from watering again. "Okay, okay. That _was_ some of the best cake I've ever eaten."

He chuckled. "Besides, what would the bride have done if you weren't on scene to deal with the best man's alcohol poisoning?"

"Ugh, what was that idiot thinking, drinking that much before giving his speech?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Maybe he was afraid of public speaking and trying to find his courage at the bottom of a bottle?"

She sighed. "Why can't the bottle in question ever be a _juice_ bottle?"

Startled, he couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think courage is likely to be found in a juice bottle."

"And when has it ever been found at the bottom of a bottle of alcohol?"

"Lots of times, I'm sure."

"Name one."

He thought for a moment and decided to gamble a little. "How about Asahi?"

"Asahi? What's _he_ got to do with this?"

"Asahi found the courage to speak to you only _after_ having a few."

Sakura felt her cheeks tint, that her recent ex-boyfriend had needed liquid courage before approaching her in the first place should have been a warning flag. "Okay, that's fair, I suppose. He's a civilian so maybe approaching a kunoichi might have been a little intimidating otherwise…"

Kakashi laughed, quickly changing the outburst into a cough before she could question what exactly he found funny. The two of them were a terrible couple in his unasked for opinion - it was only a matter of time before Sakura discovered that fact on her own. The problem was, in his slightly biased perspective, that it often took her far too long to make that particular discovery when one of her relationships was on its last legs. Going by the way things usually went for her, it would probably be another week at the very least before she realized it wasn't working and dumped the shy civilian.

They continued traveling in contemplative silence in the muggy summer heat for a few moments before Sakura realized that she hadn't gotten any resolution to her accusations.

"I still say you're trying to delay our return to the village."

"Now, Sakura, why would I possibly be doing that?" he asked with clear exasperation in his voice - hoping she would buy his injured innocent act.

"Because you know I have plans and want to get home quickly?" she asked, knowing that she was being unreasonable and he would do no such thing.

He shook his head with a little irritation. "That's nonsense and you know it. Why would I want to delay your return to the village?"

"Kakashi, you know I have plans to go to the festival tonight."

"Yes, and?"

"And, at the rate we're going, we're not going to get there on time."

"How exactly is that _my_ fault?"

"Are you trying to get out of it?"

"Get out of it?"

She shook her head, her irritation building. "Don't play dumb with me."

"Sakura, I genuinely don't know what you're talking about - what is it that you think I'm trying to avoid?" he asked with sincere confusion. He knew she was planning on going to the festival with her boyfriend, but that had nothing to do with _him_.

She looked at him incredulously for a moment before shaking her head in irritation. "Fine. Be that way."

"Sakura, what?" he tried as she sped up the path and out of his sight. If he didn't know better, he could have sworn that there was a tint of pained sadness in her voice - more so than he would have expected, considering as how he couldn't believe she would be _that_ disappointed to miss going to the festival with Asahi. The older man had seen the signs, his former student and her boyfriend were on the outs for sure - it would only be a matter of time. She should be relieved on some level that she wouldn't have to go to the festival with him.

Bewildered, he picked up his pace, though not enough to actually make them arrive in time for the Firefly Festival. After all, that would undo all the work he'd already done to ensure that they missed the event in the first place.

* * *

"That's some bad luck there, Kakashi."

"Eh?"

"Last night's festival."

"What about it?"

"I heard that Sakura was really looking forward to it."

"Oh, eh, I suppose she was."

"Funny that you don't sound so torn up about it."

"Why would I?"

His drinking companion just stared at him in disbelief.

"What's it to me if she made it to the festival with Asahi or not?"

"Nah, man, she broke up with him _weeks_ ago."

"What?!" The silver-haired man almost spit his sake out through his mask.

"Yeah, just up and dumped him - no one really knows why." He switched his senbon to the other side of his mouth contemplatively. "Eh, it was the source of a lot of gossip at the time. Still unresolved too, as far as I can tell." He couldn't help but shoot his younger friend a speculative sideways glance - there were a few reasons he could hazard to guess if he were to have to put forth a theory. But, he sure as hell wasn't going to tell a potential romantic rival like Kakashi.

"Huh." Kakashi sat in thought for a few minutes. A few weeks ago was when they announced the return of the Firefly Festival - it was deemed that the local firefly population had finally recovered from their last festival - which had ended disastrously as several enemy shinobi turned up to pick fights. The ensuing mayhem had destroyed the firefly breeding ground and most of the insect population. "You sure about that?"

"Sure, I'm sure. It's in my best interest to stay up-to-date on the latest gossip - always good to know which ladies are on the rebound." He shot another sideways glance at the man sitting next to him at the bar. "I'd thought about going after her myself… but then I realized that _you_ were probably waiting in the wings and figured it wouldn't be worth the trouble. Moth to a flame and all that."

Genuinely puzzled, he couldn't prevent himself from asking. "What do you mean by _that_?"

His drinking partner raised an eyebrow. "Aside from the fact that nearly everyone's noticed your most recent behavior toward your former student?"

"I don't know what you could possibly be referring to," he stated flatly, trying his best to sound unaffected and knowing that he was failing.

"Right, right." He waved a hand dismissively. "That aside, there's _also_ your promise to the exquisite pink-haired cherry blossom."

"My promise?"

" _Seriously_ , you don't remember?"

He shook his head. "Uh, no?"

"Oh, man. You _deserve_ the cold shoulder she's been giving you!" That said, the senbon-wielding man pushed himself up from the bar. "I'll see you later, Kakashi." He smirked. "Maybe I'll have that lovely lady on my arm when I do."

As he watched the lecherous man saunter out of the pub, a fragment of a memory surfaced in his mind. In the aftermath of the last disastrous Firefly Festival, he'd shared drinks with the pink-haired medic in question. They'd both had more than was wise and Sakura had turned maudlin over the fact that the festival would probably never happen again and if by chance it did, it would be unlikely for her to have someone to go with considering her schedule - it made boyfriends hard to find and even harder to keep. Regardless, she'd been looking forward to attending with a special someone ever since she was a small child and she had thought that she would likely never be granted the chance. Ever the chivalrous gentlemen, with several bottles of sake in his system, he'd thrown caution to the wind, found the courage he wouldn't otherwise have had, and volunteered to take her if they ever decided to have another festival...

* * *

With a huge sigh of irritation, she followed the silver-haired man into the muggy woods. It was twilight with sunset rapidly approaching and he still hadn't explained himself. As things were, he was rapidly burning the last little bit of good will she had extended to him after his phenomenal festival failure. And, as things were, she didn't feel she was likely to give him any more anytime soon.

As they kept going, deeper into the almost oppressively warm woods than they usually would go for training, she had to begin to seriously wonder what he had in mind. When he'd turned up at her apartment with a shopping bag and a lame excuse for having missed their scheduled sparring session earlier that day - he'd once again gotten lost on the path of life - he had asked if she was available to come with him then instead. Though, _where_ , he had neglected to elaborate. She'd assumed that he still wanted to train so he had probably already selected one of their most often used training grounds. But, as they left _all_ training spaces behind them, she found that she really couldn't begin to guess where they were going.

Finally, she couldn't keep her curiosity to herself. "Kakashi, _where_ are we going?"

"Shhh, you'll see when we get there." He gestured placatingly with a hand, before continuing on his way.

Still following, she lowered her voice. "But _where_ is there?"

She could see him shake his head as he continued silently on his way. Mentally, she gave him ten more minutes. If they didn't arrive or if he didn't explain himself, she was going to go back to the village and wash her hands of the infuriating man.

Five more silent minutes of travel later brought him to an abrupt stop.

"Kakashi, what?" she asked as he turned around to look at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Close your eyes."

"What?!"

"Give me your hand and close your eyes."

"Kakashi…"

He exhaled softly and moved closer to her. "Just trust me on this."

Eyeing him suspiciously for a moment, she sighed and complied. In for a penny, in for a pound. A moment later, she felt his larger, rougher hand close around her soft petite one. Gently, from behind, he urged her forward, wrapping his other arm around her and using his free hand to carefully tap the opposite side of her waist when necessary to better guide her footsteps.

After a minute or two of very careful travel, Sakura felt the air quality change just a bit, as did the ground beneath her feet. The air seemed cooler, damper somehow, and the ground just a little softer. She strained her ears and found that she could hear nothing aside from the usual sounds of the evening insects. She felt Kakashi let go of her and step away. She couldn't help the tiny bit of disappointment she felt at losing their somewhat intimate positioning - though he hadn't let his hand linger on her waist, he did have one arm around her while the other one held her hand as he guided her to their location. And she found that she enjoyed the sensation perhaps a little too much.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

With no little amount of trepidation, she slowly opened her eyes, almost afraid of what she would find.

Stunned, she just stood there for a moment, her jaw hanging open. They were standing at the edge of a large pool of water lined with tall grass and several weeping willows leaning into the water across from them, on the opposite side of the pool. The sun had just set and the area was still dimly lit with the last golden vestiges of sunlight - now competing with the gentle greenish light of hundreds of fireflies. They were everywhere. In the long grass surrounding the pool, in the branches of the weeping willows, dancing just above the surface of the water.

"It's beautiful…" she breathed, still stunned. Unable to take it all in she turned to face her silver-haired friend, only to find that several fireflies had landed on him while she was admiring the view. She giggled and raised a hand to brush the insects from his vest.

He smiled and found himself doing the same for her, murmuring mostly to himself, "yes, most certainly is."

She felt her cheeks heat as she realized that he probably wasn't referring to the scenery.

He took her moment of embarrassment to rummage around in the bag he had bought, pull out a blanket and spread it on the ground next to the pool. Chivalrously, he gestured for her to take a seat on the blanket.

Sakura couldn't help but smile and automatically seated herself on the blanket without a second thought. When he made no move to join her, she shyly glanced up at him and patted a space on the blanket next to her. With only a little bit of awkwardness, he settled himself down next to her.

The older man then pulled two bottles out of his bag. "I brought both sake and juice." He raised an eyebrow and quirked a smile.

She looked at him, puzzled, with her head tilted slightly to the side, unsure what he was trying to say.

He shook his head with a little self-deprecating smile. "Sorry."

"Sorry?" she asked, still feeling confused.

"I didn't think you'd want to hold me to a promise I made… with courage found at the bottom of a bottle…"

Her eyes widened in surprise - he did remember after all. With a shy smile, she reached out to cover one of his hands with hers. "I think we should stick to the juice... for now."

* * *

A/N: I'd thought I was done with the festival prompt when I did 'Festivals, Fireworks and Fuzzies' years ago (posted on both Ff.n and AO3 if you'd like another Festival fic.) But, somehow I was reminded of the Firefly Festival I attended in 2009 (after I'd written FFF) and there you go, off I went. I thought that might be an interesting set piece. It's too bad that Kakashi and Sakura didn't behave as originally intended since it only turns up for the last few moments of the fic. ::facepalm::


End file.
